Changes in Google’s Privacy Policy – why so much hue and cry


This entry is part 2 of 2 in the seriesonline privacy

Starting the March 01, 2011, Google’s privacy policy for all its products for free users have been clubbed to make a single privacy document. Google’s take on this is that, they wanted to make the privacy policy statement and document easier for the customers and more simplistic.

Well, I too believe it is better to have a single privacy policy for all the online products we use from a particular company, as that is what defines the real terms and conditions that apply to the products’ usage. So, what if Google has clubbed the individual privacy policies of all their products into one single document. Their policy of not sharing personal details of their customer is unchanged.

 

But there has been a lot of hue and cry over the clubbing of the privacy policies into one, not by the general public, but by the governments of various countries, ranging from Europe to Japan and south Korea. The concern of these government stems from the fact that, they think that the change in the privacy policy document may, I emphasize, “MAY”, interfere with the local law. Well, these governments must be having people who are experts in the interpretation of their country’s law, then why this “MAY”. They could have analyzed the differences in Google’s privacy policy, even before it had become effective on the 1st of March. Google had informed the users well in advance, using all possible means, email, notification on all their services, be it Google search, Youtube, Gmail, Google Maps or any other Google service that is available for free.

 

It seems either some people are trying to win some brownie points and enjoy the lime light, till the issues subsides. It does not affect the layman user of google, who did not read the Terms and Conditions, or privacy policy agreement when he first signed up for his or her first Google product. So, why this hullaballoo on the whole of the internet. I am unable to comprehend this phenomenon.

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2 responses to “Changes in Google’s Privacy Policy – why so much hue and cry”

  1. You dont comprehend the phenomenon because you first didn't understand what is being objected. Simplification of privacy policy is not what everyone is objecting to. It is Unification of data usage among many other things is what's bieng objected.
    For e.g., How I let google to use my gmail data versus how I let google to use my youtube data would be different. I might let google to auto post on Say (g+) that I liked a video and wouldnt like to tell my friends (i.e autopost) that I just marked an email to be important.

    Get over the google mania and see things objectively

    • Well, friend it is nice that you have some opinion. But others opinions count equally. Why don't you complain when facebook uses your privacy data to recommend pages to you that are not really a recommendation but advertisements. And the cherry on the cake is, that you cannot put them off…

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